


Wearing Thin

by ShowMeAHero



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 10:53:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4389005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s going to be alright,” Derek promised. Stiles was silent and still for a long minute.</p><p>“Sometimes, I don’t think it will be,” Stiles confessed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wearing Thin

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for s05e05, "A Novel Approach".
> 
> Title taken from ["Fall For You"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1O9DyFLIKo) by Secondhand Serenade.

Stiles threw his bedroom door open, catching it by the knob before it got a chance to bang into the wall and wake up his dad. He made to slam it shut behind him, but stopped himself. He shut it gently instead. He kicked off his shoes and tried to clean his hands off on his t-shirt before giving it up as a lost cause. His hands, stained with dried blood, pulled his shirt off over his head. He bumped into his board and threw it aside, slamming it into the wall in a sudden burst of frustration. The board snapped in half and fell to the ground.

“Fuck,” Stiles spat at the broken board on the floor. He ripped his shirt collar pulling it over his head, then yanked off his jeans. He fell into bed, curling up on his side with his head barely on the pillow. He wanted to reach for the covers and pull them up over him, he did, but he couldn’t find the strength or the will to move. His phone chimed in the pocket of his jeans, but he ignored it, folding his arms across his chest and burying his face in his forearms. His phone rang, and he ignored it, just burrowing further into himself. He drew his legs up closer to his chest.

Stiles tried to keep himself calm, to keep his breathing open, to keep his mind empty as the glowing numbers on the clock on his nightstand got later and later. He was in a restless, jumpy half-sleep when a knock at his window startled him out of his drift. He tilted his head up slightly to look out the window and saw a face looking back at him.

“It’s open,” Stiles murmured, turning his face back into his arms. The window squeaked open and someone pulled themselves inside.

“It really shouldn’t be,” a gruff voice said. Stiles looked up again to watch as Derek slid the window shut and locked it. “I called you.”

“Oh.”

“You didn’t answer.”

“Sorry.”

Derek crouched down in front of him, their faces inches apart. “You’ve been sending me regular updates. Suddenly stopping isn’t the smartest idea.”

“Sorry,” Stiles repeated. Derek’s eyes skimmed over his face, studying his expression. “How’s the search going?”

“Fine,” Derek answered. Stiles turned his face away. “Did something happen?”

“A lot of stuff happened,” Stiles muttered. “Where were you?”

“You know I’m looking for the Desert Wolf, Stiles,” Derek reminded him, and Stiles’ eyes darted up to Derek’s face.

“I watched a kid die today, Derek,” Stiles snapped. “I watched him get impaled, and I watched him _die_ , and then I had to watch the cops show up. And I didn’t say anything! And when I went back in, the kid’s body was gone, and then I had to go to the fucking Eichen House, and, _God_ , I just- I just-”

“Stiles, calm down,” Derek murmured, reaching out to rub at Stiles’ shoulder. Stiles flinched, but, when Derek tightened his grip, Stiles wriggled closer to him. “Hey. It’s going to be okay. You saw someone die?” Stiles nodded. “Christ.”

“Yeah,” Stiles laughed darkly. “Guess I’m not guilty if he’s gone.”

“You didn’t kill him, Stiles.”

“As good as,” Stiles replied. Derek let his thumb trace circles into the nape of Stiles’ neck, and Stiles visibly relaxed, his shoulders and back losing their tension. “I don’t know what to do. I think something’s wrong with Theo.”

“I think you’re right,” Derek whispered back. “But there’s nothing else we can do tonight.”

“If I-”

“No, Stiles,” Derek interrupted. “There’s nothing we can do tonight. It’s past one o’clock. You have school tomorrow, and lacrosse practice, and you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow night. Get some rest.”

“Will you stay?” Stiles breathed. Derek paused, then leaned in, pressing their foreheads together for a moment before he pulled away.

“I’ll stay,” Derek promised. He tugged off his jacket, shoes, and jeans. Stiles watched tiredly as Derek stripped down to his wifebeater and boxer shorts. He climbed into the bed behind Stiles and curled around him protectively. He reached down and pulled the covers up over the both of them. “Are you okay?”

Stiles hesitated, then shook his head. Derek buried his face in the back of Stiles’ neck and reached around to run his fingertips over Stiles’ throat gently. Stiles turned his face down to bury it in Derek’s forearm.

“It’s going to be alright,” Derek promised quietly. Stiles was silent and still for a moment before he turned around in Derek’s arms. He pressed their foreheads together and stared at Derek’s face for a long minute.

“Sometimes, I don’t think it will be,” Stiles confessed. Derek reached out and pulled Stiles’ face into the juncture of his neck and his shoulder, stroking absently at the back of his head.

“I know,” Derek murmured. Stiles’ breathing hitched, his hands winding around Derek’s torso, their legs tangling together. Derek pressed a kiss to the side of his head. “I know, Stiles.”

Derek waited until Stiles’ breathing started to even out, then waited until it was completely deep and even with sleep, his heartbeat finally calming down to a normal pace. He let his fingertips run absently down Stiles’ spine, soothing himself with his presence. His phone buzzed somewhere on the floor, but he ignored it. Whatever was going on out there, whatever hellfire was about to rain down on their heads, they could handle it. They could. It would take a lot of nerves, a lot of strength, but it would. They just had to stay together. They just had to stay strong, as a team.

Derek pressed his lips to Stiles’ temple and kept them there as he shut his eyes. Part of him was tuned into the heartbeats around them, to Stiles’ heartbeats, to the Sheriff’s, to the faint sound of the neighbors sleeping next door. Nothing horrible was imminent. Derek forced his own breathing to even out, his own heart rate to settle, and he fell asleep there. They had that night, at least.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicoIodeon](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


End file.
